How To Prepare For Cheltenham 2020

Justin Legg

4 Mar 2020

Updated: 19 Nov 2023

The most exciting event in the calendar for matched betting is nearly here, the 2020 Cheltenham Festival.

Running from Tuesday 10th until Friday 13th of March, the Cheltenham Festival offers the most profitable 4 days of the year for matched bettors.

Hundreds of millions of pounds are staked during the course of the festival and the great thing about that for us is that all the bookies will be fighting for their share of the spoils.

This all adds up to competitive odds, lots of free bets, money back specials and extra place races on offer from near enough every bookie that you can think of - and some that you can’t as well!

We can take full advantage of these promotions and earn some extra cash.

You might be new to matched betting, new to placing horse racing bets, this might be your first experience of the Cheltenham Festival or you might even be an experienced matched bettor. Either way, this article serves as an introduction to newer members, or as a refresher to more experienced members of Profit Accumulator’s top tips for a successful and profitable Cheltenham festival.


Cheltenham Festival Top Tips

Image provided by http://www.horseracingphoto.co.uk and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
  1. Practice Makes Perfect

Practice Makes Perfect

If you haven't placed horse racing bets before then practice the process of placing a bet on racing prior to the Festival. Get used to finding and placing bets on horses, using Profit Accumulator’s Match Catcher, Each Way Catcher and Extra Place Catcher software which you can use to quickly find the best matches for extra place offers. These tools are there to make your matched betting life easier, so utilise them at every opportunity.

  1. Get your money into the right places

Get your money into the right places

Withdraw your funds from any bookies you are not going to use and fill up your exchange account. This will allow you to get on many more offers.

The betting exchange that you use is entirely up to you, but remember that Smarkets has a 0% commission offer running for PA members which could save you quite a bit in commission if you use them for your lay bets.

You may also wish to set up a Paypal or Skrill account in order to move your money around quicker. Please just bear in mind that if you are taking advantage of any of the boosted sign up offers that might be around during the festival that many of these will require you to deposit via bank card to be eligible for the offer. Therefore, always check the deposit method eligibility for each offer you do if using e-wallets.

As a side note, some bookies are now offering a service called Visa Direct, which means withdrawals to banks can be instant in certain cases.

  1. Use Shared Liability

Use Shared Liability

Use shared liability to your advantage. Many bookies will be running offers on each race but only one horse can win that race. Use this to your advantage by backing different horses across the different bookmakers in the same race, therefore combining the promotions on offer.

By doing this you can get on more horses as the liability will be split across the horses from the highest backed horses odds down. This will provide you with a greater chance to trigger the free bet or whatever the promotion might be. This is particularly good to do if you have a small betting bank.

  1. Be Organised

Be Organised

Be organised. With so many offers on and lots of races, it can be easy to lose track of what bets you have placed and what promos you are taking part in. Make sure that you note down, either with a notepad and pen or using a spreadsheet the offer that you have done, offers you would like to do if you have triggered a free bet etc so that you don't lose track and miss out.

  1. Follow The Cheltenham Festival Section

Follow The Cheltenham Festival Section

Follow the Cheltenham section on the forum and the individual threads in there. This way you will keep up with any close matches, potential invite offers and also take part in any Cheltenham related discussions.

  1. Check Emails & Texts

Check Emails & Texts

There could be lots of invite-only offers going out via email & text so check through your inbox daily, and also check your junk email in case it has gone in there. It's a good idea to check your marketing communications settings with bookies. Make sure you have these enabled so that you will receive marketing promos from them, if turned off you will not receive any offers through so definitely look at this!

  1. Get Up Early!

Get Up Early!

If you can, get up early and get your bets on. A lot of good prices will be available early on and if you get your bets on early you can then sit back and relax. If you are working, then see what offers you are able to get on the night before. You’ll be pleasantly surprised, if you haven't experienced Cheltenham before, about how much liquidity there will be in the market even the night before the race. Manage your time effectively by planning out all of the offers you intend to do in advance.

There are just a few tips but you can find more in the Cheltenham Festival section on the forum and also discuss the event further. If you have any questions at all use the tags @administrators or @moderators and one of the team will pick up your query.

If you have any questions, don't forget you can also always contact our customer service team. We're open 7 days a week.

Finally from all of us at Profit Accumulator, we hope you all have a successful and enjoyable Cheltenham festival.